All believers are called to make disciples, though this call is as unique as each person is different. The temptation is to simplify and objectify what it means to “make disciples” from Matthew 28:19-20. Making disciples cannot be simplified into a program or system. It simply means living out our lives as salt and light. At its essence, it means becoming like our master and teacher, Jesus. As we study his words, learn them, and allow the Holy Spirit to help us live them out, our thinking will begin to change. How we confront the issues of life can now be supported and guided by a new thought process. This inner change influences outer behavior. The change may be slow, and sometimes even imperceptible. But over time, we will begin to think differently and the people around us will begin to notice. The old life will still try to return, partially because of the patterns we have developed over time and the significant influence of those around us, including our culture.
Disciple making is both individual and corporate. The change into Christlikeness is always an individual decision of faith and obedience. We each are accountable before God. There are times when an individual has been beaten down by others, even from an early age. This person may need the loving help of others to help him or her along the journey. In our own strength, we are not able to become disciples. But we have the responsibility of responding to the light God has given us and to seek to walk in this light and experience more of it as our life’s goal.
The change into Christlikeness is also a community act. At the essence of being like Jesus is love. Love must be expressed in three ways: to God, others, and ourselves. God fills our lives with love, and we experience this love more as we learn to trust God more. This love will become evident in our relationship with others as we begin to look at others with humility and forgiveness. As we learn to trust God more, we allow God to pick us up from “the deep miry clay” and begin to see ourselves differently. None of this is instant but is a life-long journey of transformation.
What is the goal of ministry? It is not a program, numbers or income, stability of the local church, or pleasing people or superiors. The goal is simply to help others along this journey. It seems to me that we have made ministry too complex and regulated. Pastors and many lay people are stressed out about all that is done as “church.” We have missed out what Jesus wants for us through our institutionalizing of discipleship. We know better, but we become blinded by the demands placed upon us by others and by ourselves. Even in talking about “disciple making,” we tend to make following Jesus fit into the word “disciple,” which in itself is limiting. I–and I think many people–long for the idea of becoming like Jesus to be freed from the confines placed upon it by programs and systems. The older I get, the more I want to simplify my life and get rid of all the clutter that fills my mind, my agenda, and my house.
I wonder if people in the church have become confused by the call to make disciples. This can become a heavy burden, a new form of “law” and “phariseeism,” that weighs people down and places guilt upon them. People long for just simply being with Jesus and being like Jesus without all the clutter that comes with the modern church. The challenge for leaders is how to have this simple abiding in Christ while also working within a local church in contemporary society. This will be topic of my weekly “Pastoral Reflections” blog as I struggle with this issue myself. These reflections will only be my own ideas and inner struggles. I hope that those who read this blog will find fruit for further thought.
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